Home for Christmas
by VilyaSage
Summary: It's Christmas Day at last, and the festivities will go on whether Isaac and Garet get home or not...but three people especially are hoping they do. After all, what's Christmas without a family to celebrate it with? Can they get what they wish for most?
1. A Fool's Errand

Home for Christmas

A/N: Short notice, yes, but it's here! A combination of two songs will be in this one: "I'll be Home for Christmas" and "Please Come Home for Christmas." Credit where it's due to Shiro and Alex for giving me the first. So, on we go! There are a few spoilers, and I've altered the end of TLA a bit for this story since it was altered for the last one—this follows ALATC, by the way, so if you want to read that…it'd be nice…but SPOILER WARNING.

Disclaimer: I…uh…well, I own the alterations I made to the game's plot…but that's all. Not the songs or the people or the places or anything at all.

Chapter One: A Fool's Errand

 _I'll be home for Christmas,_

 _You can count on me._

            "Isaac, what the heck are we doing out here?" Garet complained, brushing snow from one sleeve irritably. "It's four days before Christmas! We'll never get back to Vale in time!"

            "There's something out here and I've gotta find it," Isaac said determinedly. The two of them were walking towards Vault in what Garet would classify as a blinding blizzard, but was really only a quarter-strength snowstorm. Isaac, despite not being a Mercury Adept and having an aversion to most cold things, was reveling in it, and Garet kept giving him disgusted looks.

            In truth, Isaac was lost somewhere in his own mind. He was watching the snowflakes, looking down at some on one of his gloves and studying them. Mia had told him once that no two snowflakes were truly alike, ever, anywhere in the world. While Isaac found that hard to believe, he also rationally compared it to people—there were no two people truly exactly identical, not even twins. And there were a lot of people in this world.

            "What are you looking for, then?" Garet asked, rubbing his hands together to try and keep them warm. Isaac considered this. He didn't know what he was looking for, really, just that something was…was _calling_ to him…and he had to find it before there was no more time.

            It had been five years since the unleashing of Alchemy. Vale had been rebuilt, better than before, even, and Kraden had moved away shortly after the end of the quest. Isaac recalled that particular part of their lives, finally being rid of Kraden, and laughed. 

            Four Christmases ago, a black dragon had attacked Vale, and Isaac had died saving everyone else's lives. Somehow, the Elemental Spirits had brought him back, apparently because he had stuff left to do, but every Christmas after that had been filled with both intense sadness and a bit of fear—would something else attack this year? Isaac always wondered. 

            The sadness came from the memory of his father, Kyle. The specter of Kyle had spoken to Isaac, between the conversation of the Spirits and actually waking up alive again, and had told him that love, the love he and Mia had for one another, was one of the greatest things he'd ever have. Kyle had told him never to lose that love. 

            But here he was, leaving Vale on some fool's instinct—he was that fool, but he'd readily agree with such an assessment—to go after who knew what, four days before Christmas. For reasons he didn't really understand (though he suspected it had to do with Jenna's Christmas shopping frenzy and the fact that he didn't want Isaac to die alone somewhere in the wilderness) Garet had come along, though for someone who'd volunteered he sure was complaining a lot.

            "Well? What are you looking for?" Garet asked again as the lights of Vault came into view. 

            "I'm not really sure," Isaac said quietly. "But I'll know when I find it."

            "Oh great. This is one of those things, isn't it. Like what Ivan used to bother me with, only you're a Venus Adept, you don't have visions. You just have headaches."

            "You're fast becoming one."

            "Good. It's nice to know I bother someone besides Jenna and Ivan."

            "Felix. You bother Felix," Isaac pointed out helpfully.

            "Do not go there. It's Christmas, I don't want to deal with Felix's ire." 

            The two of them walked into Vault, looking around at the beautiful Christmas lanterns placed in every window and next to every front door. "I've never seen Vault like this," Isaac whispered, in awe. "I've never seen anywhere like this. It's so beautiful."

            "It's _cold_," Garet corrected. "Can we get out of it?"

            "Fine," Isaac relented, pushing open the door to the Inn. "But only for a while. Whatever I'm after isn't going to be here in Vault."

~*~

            Mia stood at the window of Isaac's house, looking out at the softly falling snow. She loved this time of year, and always would, but things weren't really the same without Isaac and Garet around. There was no one who would just sit and listen to her talk, who would take it all in and then say three or four sentences that put everything in perspective and made understanding out of chaos. 

            And there was no chaos, not really. Not without Garet to pester Jenna and Ivan. Or anyone else, for that matter. Thus, Jenna and Ivan were left to argue with one another, and since what Ivan felt for Jenna bordered on sheer terror, unless he was feeling unusually brave, the arguments didn't last long. 

            Thus, Jenna was employed in helping Dora bake her Christmas desserts while Felix helped at their house—the siblings had been overjoyed to learn that their parents were still alive! They had returned to Vale happy and together again, at last. 

            And somewhere around the house were Sheba and Picard. Mia thought the latter was probably on the roof, hanging evergreen rope-vine things (courtesy of Felix) all over the house—this was confirmed by a soft thud and a short, sharp burst of Lemurian cursing, though from the sound of it, it wasn't too bad—but Mia had no idea where Sheba might have been.

            Deciding that being outside might take her mind off Isaac—he hadn't told here where he was going or why, just that he'd be back in time for Christmas, he promised—Mia put on her cloak and went outside.

            Immediately she was pelted by a barrage of snowballs. "Oh, you children!" Mia laughed, looking at Ivan and Sheba, who shared identical mischievous grins. 

            "How do you think we got Picard off the roof?" Sheba asked slyly. The Lemurian pulled himself up from the snow and looked at Mia, raising a questioning eyebrow. 

            "Look here," Mia said, giving the Jupiter Adepts a slightly less powerful version of the Glare. "I am twenty-two years old, and this is a childish game!" Ivan and Sheba didn't even notice as Picard moved up behind them. 

            "But Mia—" Ivan began.

            "It was only—" Sheba tried, but both were cut off as Picard tackled them, throwing them both face-first into the snow. 

            "And never let it be said that I hate snowball fighting," Mia finished, grinning, then laughing with Picard as Ivan and Sheba stood, disheveled and wet.

            "That does it," Ivan said darkly. "This is war."

            "Oh good! A war in the snow against Mercury Adepts!" Sheba shouted in Ivan's ear. "Will you _think_ about what you're doing before you do it?"

            "You're right. I hope I didn't pick up all this irrational stuff from Garet." As he said Garet's name, Ivan ducked, and the others watched a wooden spoon sail out the window and pass over his head. "That woman must have sonic hearing. I can be miles away and say 'Garet' and OUCH!" Ivan yelped as he was struck in the back of the head by a ceramic bowl, which thankfully didn't break.

            Jenna scowled at them from the window, then shut it and went back to helping Dora cook. The woman seemed very sad, and rather older this year than she had any year before. 

            _I hope Garet makes it back_, Jenna thought with a sigh. _He can't be enjoying himself in all this snow_.

~*~

            "I am _not_ enjoying myself!" Garet grumbled, pulling himself out of another snowdrift. Isaac tried his best to cover his laughter. "I swear that one was a hill before I stepped in it. It just changed to snow to be spiteful." 

            "Right," Isaac said sarcastically. "Anything you say, buddy."

            "If you're going to be that way about it," Garet shot back, "then I say we turn around now so we can spend Christmas with our families! It's the last one we get all together!" 

            Isaac's eyes widened. He'd forgotten about that. After this Christmas, as soon as the snow mostly melted and the roads were safer, Picard would return to Lemuria to finally sort things out, Sheba would go back to Lalivero and the family she had there, and Ivan was even considering a return trip to Kalay, or perhaps Tolbi, to learn what he could about…well, basically anything.

            And Mia would go home, to Imil. That was the part that Isaac hated most. Mia had to go home—people she knew and loved still lived there, after all. Her home was there, everything she'd ever known. Her job was still to be guardian of the Mercury Lighthouse, whether it needed a guardian now or not. 

            And she would leave Isaac in Vale. She wouldn't want to, of course, but she was duty-bound, and honor-bound, and Isaac knew Mia well enough to understand that only in the most extreme cases would Mia place her own feelings before her obligations. 

            _So doesn't she love me that much, after all?_ Isaac wondered. _Not enough to stay for me, anyway_, he corrected himself glumly. He didn't even realize where he was walking—out of Vault, yes, but his steps were taking him ever northward, towards Imil or perhaps Prox if he thought about it. But he wasn't thinking about it—he was thinking about Mia. 

            "You know," Garet continued, five years' time having in no way cured him of his tendency to complain-ramble, "the farther north we go, the colder it gets. This is bad. I don't want to have a replay of the whole Prox incident, okay Isaac? Isaac? …Isaac!"

            "What? What!" Isaac asked, snapping out of his thoughts. 

            "Well you obviously weren't here, so where were you?" Garet asked, shaking his head and watching the snowflakes fall from what parts of his hair stuck out from under his hat.

            "In Vale," Isaac said quietly. Garet nodded solemnly.

            "What I wouldn't give for some of that Imilian chili right now…or maybe some hot cocoa…with marshmallows and whipped cream…"

            "Every holiday is about food with you, still, isn't it?" Isaac asked sharply. "Garet, aren't you thinking at all about Jenna?"

            "Sure am," he said cheerily. "She's the one who'll make me the cocoa. And sit with me by the fire and watch Ivan and Sheba bother Picard with their snowballs like they do every year. And fall asleep on my shoulder as the fire dies down and the snow starts to fall."

            "Okay, sorry I snapped," Isaac said, nodding. In truth, Garet's words had brought back Isaac's memories of last Christmas. It had been a strangely warm one—there was barely any snow, and the ground was muddy and the paths slick with slush and wet ice. 

            The Adepts hadn't really felt too bad, though, because the slickness had made the perfect conditions for nearly nonstop sledding—with the Teleport Lapis, they hadn't even had to keep climbing back up again.

            Isaac smiled at the memory. Many people would view that as a bunch of adults acting like children, but to them, it was just the gang having fun like they always had. Even the Djinn got in on the fun, though Bane had done the best he could to spoil it before being taken along for a ride or two and deciding it wasn't so bad, after all.

            Isaac sighed. The day was nearly over, and the only place that he and Garet could stay was here, out here in the snow. They were nearer the mountains now, though, and Isaac put the idea in Garet's head that if they didn't find a cave soon, they'd freeze to death in the snow. Garet got right down to it, melting the snow from a moderate-size hole in a mountain as soon as he found it, and he and Isaac dragged themselves inside. 

            Using an old trick long since perfected, Isaac created vines on the ground with Growth, and Garet lit them on fire. On opposite sides of the fire, the two Adepts fell asleep, each one falling into dreams of the one they most loved.

~*~

            "I wonder if they found what Isaac was looking for," Mia whispered to no one that night. She, Sheba, Ivan and Picard were staying in the house that Kraden had left behind, which was quite decent and rather spacious when not cluttered by Kraden's…junk. Thinking everyone else asleep, Mia was quite surprised when she got an answer.

            "No doubt they have, or they are very close," Picard said reassuringly. "I know you wish Isaac was here, Mia, but you must remember that he is rational, unlike his current traveling companion, and he would not leave you on Christmas without good reason. As I'm certain you would not leave him."

            "No. No, I wouldn't leave Isaac for anything. He's…I love him, Picard. You know that." Something about Mia's words, though, made her frown. She was forgetting something, she knew it.

            "Is he more important than your return to Imil?" Picard asked quietly. "More important than going back to your home and guarding anew the Mercury Beacon?"

            Mia was about to answer, to say of course he was, this was Isaac, this was the person she was meant to be with forever. But something stopped her. If he was more important than Imil, then why was she going back? What had made her decide to leave after the snow had gone?

            _Isaac did_, she realized. _Isaac…he left me on Christmas…some love he must have, not enough to stay with me, apparently._ She was about to say more to Picard but she found that he had left, gone to bed. Sighing, she unbound her hair and slowly went to her own bed, falling asleep slowly and dreaming of terrible cold and a feeling of intense loss.

~*~

            It was cold. Too cold, here in the snow. There in the snow? He couldn't tell. But the cold was good; it had been so long since he'd felt the cold biting at him. Too long. He knew, though, that sleep was coming, that it would take him if he wasn't careful. 

            To sleep in the cold, in the snow and wet, that would kill him. And he couldn't die, not now, not when he'd come so far. He groaned, pulled himself up again, and continued his slow, half-walk, half-stumble, ever southward. Ever towards his home.

            He'd passed the mountains, made it past the coldest place in all Weyard. He could survive this, could accept the cold, make it part of him, take strength from it. He could make it home.

            Far in the distance, he thought he saw a light. Then he collapsed, let the sleep take him. He couldn't go on, not with the wind picking up and the snow falling harder. At that moment, despite their faces flashing before him, in his mind forever, he could not bring himself to go on.

            In the morning, he promised himself. When the sun rose, up he would get and onward he would go. Ever southward. Ever bound for home.

~*~

            Dora was the last one awake in Vale that night. Her mind, her will, everything about her was focused on Isaac. How could he do this? How could he leave, at Christmas of all times? How could he leave her alone like this? Leave her with all the responsibility, all the work of Christmas?

            How could he ever leave her at all when he was the only person she had in all the world anymore? 

            She shook those thoughts away. He was Isaac, he was the savior of Weyard, and he promised he didn't need to pass Goma Range. He could take care of himself.

            He had promised her, told her that she could count on his being home in time for Christmas. And Dora had to believe in Isaac. She had to believe in her son.

            _I miss you, son_, she thought, looking up at the stars, for the sky was clear now, so late at night, and it seemed that one star shone a bit brighter than the rest. _Christmas star that shines for me, grant my wish. Bring my Isaac home to me for Christmas_.

            She remembered the wish she had made, so many years ago, that Kyle would return to her for Christmas. And he hadn't come. She almost laughed at herself for doing it, but she looked up at the star again and asked anyway. _Christmas star that shines for me, grant my heart's desire. Bring Kyle back to me this Christmas_.

            She chided herself for such silly wishful thinking. Kyle was dead. Even when Jenna's parents had returned, they'd said as much. Kyle had died in Prox, they'd said, and there was no way he could come back. Dora had cried harder that day than she had the day the boulder had fallen. There was the proof, actual proof that Kyle could never return to her.

            Glancing at the sky one last time, Dora blew out the lanterns and walked up the stairs to bed. She slept that night in an empty house that echoed with the memories of the past.

~*~

There. First chapter done! Tell me what you think—it's likely that two chapters will go up tomorrow, and the last one on Christmas day. So…review if you want the next chapter! And feel free to ask questions…I just won't be able to answer the ones that would reveal my plot! Ahahahahahaha! Happy day before Christmas Eve!!


	2. Fresh Snow

Home for Christmas

A/N: I bet you've never seen me update so fast before in your lives (unless you were around for the first days of ALWHI)! I've never had an idea come at me like this before, all at once in five seconds, and I'm on a bit of a time limit, what with Christmas and all, so…here goes chapter two!

Chapter Two: Fresh Snow

 _Please have snow, and mistletoe,_

 _And presents on the tree_.

            The next morning dawned cold but clear, though Isaac noticed a few clouds gathering again in the north. "Another one's coming," he said grimly. "If we don't hurry, we'll show up in Vale on Christmas night."

            "And I take it you don't mean Christmas Eve," Garet remarked dryly. 

            "Got that right. Come on, maybe if I start wandering I'll find whatever it is…that's supposed to be out here…" Isaac was getting the strangest feeling. It was almost like the feeling he got when he was being watched, only…sort of inverted. He _wasn't_ being watched? Did that even give you a feeling? 

            Or maybe…maybe he was missing something. But he couldn't have left anything in that cave, he hadn't unpacked. And Garet certainly wasn't missing. So what could it be?

            "Weyard calling Isaac!" Garet said, tapping the Venus Adept on his shoulder. Isaac, startled, jumped a little, shaking his head and looking around again. "What's with you? You're acting like Ivan did right before we got to Jupiter Lighthouse."

            "I don't know. I just have an odd feeling. …You still think about Jupiter Lighthouse? Why, because that's when you finally saw your Jenna again?" Isaac teased, grinning. Garet gave Isaac a good shove, and he toppled over into the snow, buried in the fresh powder. 

            After a few moments without Isaac reappearing, Garet began to get nervous. He leaned forward, about to reach into the snow, when Isaac sprang out behind him and tackled him to the ground. 

            "If I've got to be cold and wet," he said, standing and holding out a hand to help Garet up, "then so do you. Now come on, I think we're close."

            "Well since you've suddenly become a Jupiter Adept," Garet said, shaking his hair and letting water and snow fly everywhere, "then you can use your new windiness to dry yourself off. And dry me off too, while you're at it."

            "Garet, if I called you a water-loving Mercury Adept weakling, what would you do to me?" Isaac asked casually.

            "I would throw you headlong into the nearest snowdrift." 

            "Just making sure," Isaac said. Of course, it was only a coincidence that Garet ended up smack in the middle of the next big snowdrift they passed.

            "So have you figured out what we're looking for yet?" he asked once he had extracted himself. Isaac shook his head. "Sheesh. At least when we were chasing down random power-hungry Proxans, we knew what we were after!" 

            "Well I'm sorry we haven't run across any random power-hungry Proxans, but we seem to have gotten rid of them all on the last go-round," Isaac snapped. "However, if you'd like to head north to try and find some newer ones, be my guest!"

            "They're all smart enough not to walk through knee-deep snow _three days before Christmas in the wrong direction_!" Garet yelled back. Isaac huffed and turned away, crossing his arms and glaring sideways over his shoulder at Garet, who was in a similar position, glaring at Isaac.

            Moments later, both of them burst out laughing. They continued walking, smiling now instead of snapping at one another, and Isaac let the feeling lead him, or would have if his better judgment hadn't intervened and told him that walking in circles was a stupid thing to do.

            So they didn't walk in circles, instead making a wide turn so that they weren't so much going north now as they were northeast, and completely bypassed that for which Isaac was searching.

~*~

            "Decorating just isn't the same," Jenna sighed, stringing another bright red berry on the fine line, and grabbing a few more from the bowl. "I mean…Garet usually eats half of these…"

            "Garet eats half of everything," Ivan muttered, earning himself a kick in the shin under the table from Jenna. "You're violent when you're anxious, do you know that? I'm going to start spending time with Mia instead—she just gets thoughtful." 

            "Ivan, do you _like_ being in trouble?" Sheba whispered frantically. Ivan shrugged. 

            "I've spent five years in trouble with Jenna, or just about five. No reason it's going to end now."

            Ivan, Sheba, Jenna and various Djinn were trying to string berries—no one had ever been sure exactly what kind of berries they were, except that the only person who thought they tasted good was Garet, which didn't even prove that they were edible—to hang around Vale's giant Christmas tree. However, it was indeed a giant tree, and Jenna didn't know if they had nearly enough berries.

            "I have an idea!" Ivan said excitedly. "I know what we can do!"

            "Okay, smart guy, what can we do?" Sheba asked.

            "Let's make a smaller tree, over at Isaac's house. We can even try to put it inside. And we can decorate that for just him and Dora and probably Mia too, for when Isaac gets back!"

            "Sheba!" Jenna said, her voice taking on an edge that Sheba had often told them never to use in conjunction with her name unless it was so important her own life depended on it.

            "Yes?" Sheba asked hesitantly. 

            "Go get Felix." 

~*~

            Mia and Picard were on a sort of mission of their own, combing the forests around Vale looking for something rather elusive but startlingly effective at Christmastime. 

            Mistletoe. The bane of the unwilling romantic and the love of their pursuer during the Christmas season. Mia was hoping to save one of the best sprigs—she'd called them springs forever, but she'd never been entirely sure if mistletoe really came in sprigs—for herself and Isaac. And give one to Jenna, for her and Garet.

            "Now seriously, Picard," Chill was saying from a perch on the Lemurian's left shoulder, "you should really start looking for the presents you're going to give everyone. It's nearly Christmas, you know! You've only got three days, and that's counting Christmas itself!"

            "I assure you, my gifts will be ready and waiting on Christmas morning, Chill," Picard said for what had to have been the hundredth time. _At least_. "Now please just help find what we're looking for." 

            "No Christmas spirit," Chill grumbled, hopping off Picard and jumping around in a few bushes, but finding nothing worthwhile except some thorns. "If I could _find_ the darn Christmas Spirit I think I'd shoot it with some ice missiles." 

            By the time they returned to Vale, each was loaded with an armful of mistletoe, and they began hanging it with the help of a little bit of Frosting over the doors of the houses and on several overhanging branches of trees.

            Mia took one of the last sprigs and went down to the town gate. Standing on her tiptoes, she could almost, just barely reach…but she couldn't. She wasn't tall enough. Sighing, she was about to just let it fall to the ground when a Djinni sprang from her hand and grabbed the sprig, standing atop the gate and holding it there with a foot. The sprig was soon frozen over the entrance to Vale. 

            "Thank you, Sleet," Mia said, and Sleet gave a playful salute with her tail before disappearing. Looking up at the hanging plant, Mia sighed. It so reminded her of Isaac…even though he'd left her at Christmas, it was impossible to be mad. She had absolute faith that Isaac was out there doing something of such importance that it couldn't be ignored. 

            She only wished he'd taken her with him. 

            Mia thought this and gasped. It was as though a shard of ice had shot through her. That was it, she realized. That was what felt so terrible, why she was so sad and lonely. She had wanted Isaac to take her along, just in case perhaps, or maybe so she'd be with him at Christmas no matter what happened.

            But she had wanted to go with Isaac. To fight beside him again, to have adventures again. She hadn't known true adventure for about a year and a half. That had been their last great trip away from Vale. And now…Isaac had left again, and though it was only a short trip to the Goma Range and back, or thereabouts, Mia longed for the chance to be able to leave. To have an adventure.

            It crossed her mind that perhaps Isaac had made it all up, had just made an excuse to go out and explore a bit, but she dismissed these thoughts immediately. Not on Christmas. Not like this. 

~*~

            Dora took the pot of hot stew off the oven and walked over to the table, filling the seven bowls with the steaming soup and smiling when she saw the six ravenous Adepts digging in. How she wished those two seats at the end of the table had people sitting in them.

            The rebuilt Vale had given her a house with plenty of room to lodge eight Adepts plus herself when necessary, so they often all gathered there to eat. Dora didn't mind at all—it was wonderful having a house so full of people. Being alone in such a big house brought emptiness to her heart. Dora shook her head and joined the Adepts at the table—she would keep 'alone' out of her thoughts, she decided. 

~*~

            The sun was setting yet again, and by then Isaac truly had brought them full circle and he was feeling very frustrated. They'd found nothing all day, and Garet persisted in pointing this out, but Isaac still knew that whatever it was, it was still there.

            What worried him more was that feeling, the one of not being watched. It was getting less and less as the day went on. Fading, almost, and whatever it was inside Isaac that told him to look for something three days before Christmas was also telling him that this fading business was a bad thing. 

            "Garet, we've got to find it, and it has to be tonight," Isaac said, determination written on his face and woven through his voice. But there was also desperation there, and Garet had very rarely known Isaac to be desperate.

            "What is so important?" Garet asked, grabbing Isaac by the shoulders and spinning him around, looking straight into his eyes. "Why did you drag me out here in the middle of winter, Isaac? What is this all for?" 

            "It's something…something that my family, my mother and I…it's something for us," he said, realizing only then that this was true, he was out here for her, for Dora. Whatever he was doing was for her, and perhaps for himself. 

            If only he knew what he was doing.

            "Well, I won't let it go on anymore," Garet said forcefully, beginning to pull Isaac along as they headed back to Vault. "If the weather stays clear and we don't stop too long, we can make it to Vale by sunset tomorrow."

            "No!" Isaac said, breaking away and beginning to run back in the other direction. "We can't! I have to find it!"

            "Isaac, don't be stupid!" Garet yelled after him. After a few seconds, he added, "That's my job!" When Isaac didn't reply, Garet began to walk quickly after him. That walk became a run when he saw Isaac drop to the ground.

            By the time Garet got there, Isaac had almost completely uncovered the still form of what appeared to be a man. Whoever it was had shaggy dark hair and an equally unkempt, rather long beard, and was either frozen to death or pretty close to it.

            "Isaac, what? We've been out here looking for a human icicle?" Garet asked incredulously. Isaac, however, shook his head vehemently.

            "No, no, he's still alive," he insisted. "Could you come out of your aggravated stupor and help me, please?" Garet sighed exasperatedly but helped Isaac lift the man anyway—for such a muscular-looking person he was rather light—and the two of them carried him to the cave they had stayed in the night before.

            "And what are we supposed to do now?" Garet asked, crossing his arms and trying to look superior. It failed, mostly because Isaac was busy thinking of other things, and calling forth enough vines to stretch all along one side of the cavern, from the front to the back.

            "Light them!" Isaac said urgently, tugging off his scarf as he did so. "Light the vines, Garet!" With a shrug of acceptance, Garet shot a line of flame at the plants and watched them catch fire, the cavern becoming instantly hot. But Garet had never minded heat, so he positioned himself rather close to the flames and looked at the man. Something seemed familiar about him, but Garet couldn't place what it was. 

~*~

            He was warm. That was the first and only thing he thought of. There was warmth and he wasn't cold and he wasn't dead. As soon as he woke up…if he could bring himself to…then he'd keep going. He had to keep going. He had to make it in time for Christmas. 

            If he didn't…he might not make it at all.

            But it was warm now, and that was all that mattered. He could live with that for a while. The warmth felt so good…so real. It was all he needed for the time being. He let that warmth take him, pull him back into sleep, and let soft darkness claim him.

~*~

End of chapter two! It's looking like I can't finish until about the day after Christmas, or perhaps next Monday, so I'm sorry guys, I hope you're all still in the Christmas mood by the time it's done! See you soon!!


	3. Dawn Breaks

Home for Christmas

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews!!! Sorry this is so late, I had absolutely NO time on Christmas day to type anything, but I hope you're all still in the mood to read it!! Let's see…what is there to say to the reviewers?

Well, most of you seem to think you know who this mystery man is, though you haven't really guessed. And, because this is a bit of a cliché story, you're probably right. But that's the fun of it (this time), being able to guess and be right and be all happy.

Besides, you find out in this chapter anyway, unless my mind decides to change itself on me.

Enough of my rambling! Make with the reading!!

Chapter Three: Dawn Breaks

 _Christmas Eve will find me_

 _Where the love-light gleams._

            Dawn broke in Vale the same way it did on most winter mornings—cold, clear, and with the prospect of snow in the future. It was only clear for a little while, however—clouds moved in quickly and began to dump their load of the frosty white stuff onto the few people awake at such an early hour.

            Ivan, unfortunately, was one of them. And he didn't much like it, either, but he was using his Jupiter powers to clear the snow away from his house, or at least from the path that led from his house to the rest of Vale, and after he was done he'd go to Felix's house, and then Garet's and then Isaac's, and clear those too. He'd done it every year since they'd come back to Vale, and he'd do it this year too.

            He didn't know what they'd do the next year, without him. By this time next year he planned to be in Tolbi, studying from their vast collection of books. Studying what, he didn't much know, but he'd sure study something. He supposed the Mars Adepts could melt the snow away—he thought of that solution every year, but he always dismissed it, because Jenna would fry him and Garet would roast him if he even suggested it.

            _Hard to believe things haven't changed a bit in four years_, Ivan thought half-bitterly. _And yet…they've changed so much._

            "Are you going to take all day?" Sheba teased out the window, and Ivan scowled. A freezing wind blew in through Sheba's window at Ivan's direction, but Sheba countered with a frigid blast of her own, and Ivan, already cold and wet, decided to let her win, this time. 

            Mia watched this with only halfhearted amusement. She longed to jump up and run past Ivan, run right through town to Vale's gate and wait for her Isaac there. He'd promised her that he'd be there, and she'd hold him to it. With extra string, if she had to.

            But she couldn't. She had to go about this Christmas Eve like any other—help hang the star, finish the final preparations, help Dora with the last of the baking, untangle the odd Valean from last-minute Christmas tinsel or evergreen strings, and put the presents under the tree.

            About an hour later, with the path into Vale clear, Mia put on her cloak and did exactly that, though she went the long way to Dora's, way down through the plaza and past the town gate. No one was there, and though she told herself she expected no one, secretly her heart fell at this discovery. Where was Isaac, and what could possibly be keeping him so long?

~*~

            "Isaac! Hey, Isaac! Get up! Come on, you're not the heavy sleeper, wake up already!" 

            "I'm up, I'm up!" Isaac cried, weakly shoving away the hands that were shaking his shoulders. "What's so important?"

            "You look beat," Garet said, frowning. "Maybe I should have let you sleep until noon after all." 

            "I wouldn't have minded," Isaac admitted, sitting up and shaking his head. "But what did you want that merited the end to my sleep for the night?"

            "First of all, it's morning, and second, your mystery man is—or maybe was—awake and confused." That got Isaac up in one great leap, and while he busied himself with his mystery man, Garet walked out into the snow and looked around.

            It didn't look any better outside the cave—in fact, it looked worse. It was snowing, and in big, clumpy flakes, too. Soon they'd have no hope of reaching Vale at all, or even Vault unless they were lucky. Garet continued to scan the surrounding whiteness, oblivious to what was going on in the cave behind him.

            Isaac knelt by the man and looked at him. His eyes were open, and under all the messy dark hair he looked quite lost and confused. Not sure what to say, Isaac figured he might as well say _something_. 

            "Hello."

            "Hello," said the man in a raspy voice. "How did I get here?"

            "Well…I guess you fell asleep in the snow, or something. Where were you going?"

            "Home. I have to get home. It's almost Christmas…my family needs to see me."

            "So does mine," Isaac said with a touch of bitterness. He still hated himself for leaving like he had.

            "Why did you help me?" the man asked, looking at Isaac differently now. This boy, man really, he seemed so familiar…

            "Well…because it's the right thing to do, especially around Christmas. Because I'm just sort of like that, I guess. In all honesty, I had this feeling…that I had to come looking for something way out here. But when we brought you back here, the feeling went away."

            "I had a feeling like that once," said the man, struggling to sit up. Isaac helped him, offering him some water, which the man drank thankfully. "I had that feeling many years ago. I lost my son one day while he was out playing, and I followed a feeling like that to find him. And then just recently…when I set out to come back home. I had the feeling that they needed me, that my wife needed me."      

            "So…you left wherever you were, and you headed for home. But you must have been somewhere far to the north of here…"

            "I was in Prox. No…I was north of Prox."

            "You survived the journey all the way through all these mountains?"

            "I began my journey in the summer, but I stayed too long in Imil, and by the time I left the winter snows had begun to fall."

            "Imil. I've been there. Such a beautiful…sorry. Everyone always tells me I tend to babble on sometimes. What took you so far north as Prox? You're obviously not a native of that area."

            "I was…taken there, by a group of…mercenaries, perhaps. Warriors, or maybe thieves. They took three other people from my village, and they kept us hostage there, only we weren't treated as hostages. We were treated as…well, as people. But…there was a battle, atop the Mars Lighthouse. I was watching from afar, but something shook the ground where I was standing, and one of the Proxans and myself…we fell into the darkness that surrounds the northern edge of Weyard."

            "Picard did that," Isaac recalled. "He said…he said he was numb, worse than cold, for hours afterward. But he barely even touched the darkness…how did you survive?"

            "I did not. To every purpose, I was dead. But those who fought atop the lighthouse must have won. Weyard began to mend itself, and in time, I was taken from the state of…suspension I was in, and my feet were set on the ground right where I had fallen into the nothingness. And I began my journey home."

            "I fought on the lighthouse," Isaac said, looking at the man with a bit more consideration now. "Where do you come from, sir?"

            "Vale. I lived in Vale."

            "Really? That's interesting. I live in Vale too."

            The man looked at Isaac, and Isaac looked right back at him. Recognition lit in both sets of azure eyes at the same time, and Isaac felt tears threatening to fall, tears that he had been holding back, accompanying the hope he'd been holding back, since he was fourteen years old.

            "Dad?" Isaac asked the man, his voice and hands shaking uncontrollably.

            "Isaac?" asked the man, in a similar state of excited shock. 

            "_Dad_!" 

            "_Isaac_!" The two men, father and son, embraced, each holding the other as tightly as they could, trying in that one moment to bring back all the years they had lost, all the time they would never have together.

            "Mom will be so thrilled! She won't even hurt me much for not being home on time!" Isaac said, tears streaming down his face even as he laughed. 

            "When is Christmas, Isaac?" Kyle asked, letting Isaac go and looking over his shoulder as Garet came back in, making his usual amount of noise.

            "Tomorrow," Isaac said desolately. "Mia will take my head off. With her words, staff and bare hands. All at once."

            "Mia is that girl? The one the Spirits released you for?" Kyle asked, and Isaac nodded. Garet looked at them both like they were insane.

            "Garet, it's Kyle. It's my dad," Isaac said, wiping his tears away with the edge of his scarf. "Pack up, we have to start heading home. We have the best Christmas present ever to bring with us, after all."

            They began to walk. The high snow and frigid wind, combined with Kyle's lack of energy and his weakness from nearly freezing to death, made for slow going—the clouds were tinted faintly orange by the time they reached Vault.

            "We can't stay the night here!" Garet argued before Isaac could say a word. "It's Christmas Eve! We need to be home by tomorrow!! Jenna will kill me and serve me for Christmas dinner if we don't!"

            "I believe you," Isaac said. "We do have to be home by tomorrow, even if it's not until midnight tomorrow. So…I guess we'll keep going. Er…if that's okay with you…Dad…" Isaac said, the word still unfamiliar after so long. 

            "It would be a wonderful surprise for Dora if I came home to her on Christmas day," Kyle said, smiling. "Let's go."

~*~

            The sun had gone down long ago. The snow had also stopped falling, and the sky was clear and full of stars. In their various houses, most Adepts (because of course Vale was entirely populated by Adepts) were blowing out their lanterns and going to sleep. Well, some of the younger ones would be begging to stay up later, but of course their parents would send them to bed anyway.

            Picard, however, wasn't asleep. For the past few days he'd hardly slept at all—the static lifestyle he was now leading, stuck in Vale with little to do, was getting to him more so now than ever. He felt the pull of the sea, calling to him. He wanted to go home, to Lemuria. He wanted…to leave. 

            That thought stung, more than anything else. He didn't like knowing that he wanted to leave his friends to just go off sailing somewhere. So he was climbing to the top of one of Vale's highest cliffs, certain that the conditions were right and the timing was perfect. 

            Sitting in the snow—it hardly bothered him—Picard raised his Lemurian flute to his lips and played one long, clear note, listening to its echo. Yes, this was how it should sound. He took a moment to recall the tune, then began to play, softly at first, but louder as the song went on.

            Mia heard the music from where she was sitting, at the small desk in her room, reading. She looked up and out the window, and though she couldn't see Picard from where she was, she knew it was him playing. And she also recognized the tune. Softly, she began to sing the words to herself.

            "_At Christmas Eve, tomorrow's near,_

            _I hope that love will bring you here,_

            _Home for a while._"

            Getting up, she walked over to the window and looked out at the black sky and its sprinkling of stars…so many bright, shining stars. Mia wondered if Isaac, wherever he was, was looking up at the sky, too. She wondered if at that exact moment, he was thinking about her just like she was thinking about him. 

            "_I'll make the best of what's for me,_

            _But I would love you here to be_

            _Holding me now_." 

            Mia closed her eyes and imagined Isaac's arms around her, as they had been when he'd told her that he would have to leave. And she knew that it wouldn't happen, that he wouldn't make it back. And she let herself cry.

            Jenna, way across Vale, was still awake as well, though now the hour approached dawn. Her thoughts—most of them angry ones directed Garet's way—had kept her from a restful sleep, and now she was sitting out on her roof, having melted away a patch of snow and then dried it so she could sit there without being annoyed by wet.

            _That song…_ Jenna's mind strayed to the words of the song she heard on the wind. It seemed almost like Christmas magic, that a song like that would just simply appear as Christmas grew close to dawning…barely even noticing at first, Jenna began to sing.

            "_How I wish that you and I,_

            _And love could be close_,

            _'Cause the holidays_,

            _Are when I need you most, so…_"

            _I'll kill him_, Jenna thought angrily, her hands balling into fists. _If he doesn't make it home, I'll…serve him for Christmas dinner_! Anger boiled up within her, but Jenna's sensible (and seldom seen) side told her that she wasn't really angry. She was sad. She missed Garet, and she wanted him there for Christmas. So maybe she wouldn't cook him for dinner. But only maybe.

            "_Another year, another chance,_

            _A different song, a different dance,_

            _For us to try…"_

            Two voices joined in song then, though neither knew that the other was singing. Both were lost in the almost-magic of music that could echo throughout the whole of Vale.

            "_Please come home for Christmas…_

            _I don't want it this way._

            _Please come home for Christmas_

            _And stay."_

            Picard kept playing, lost in the music now, his fingers placing themselves for each note all on their own. His mind was somewhere much farther away, wandering through wishes and dreams, hopes and delights of his own. 

            The music went on as the sun began to rise. Dora, awake since the night had begun and standing silently next to the large Psynergy Stone, watching Vale's dark and silent gates for her son's return, heard the soft notes in the stillness of the dawn.

            There was something in that music that compelled her, almost, to sing. Granted, she knew she hadn't sung anything in years and she was probably worse now than she'd been then…but Christmas invariably reminded her of both Kyle and Isaac, and she felt, at that moment, like singing.

            "_Good morning love, it's me again_

            _As Christmas day begins again_

            _I think of you_.

            _I know that time has passed us by_

            _I tell myself to stop, but I_

            _Still dream it's true_."

            She didn't think anyone was awake to hear her. And she knew that even if her voice was horrible, the song came from her heart, and that made it the best she'd ever sung. It was through tears that she went on singing—unaware that on either side of Vale, two other women were singing the same song.

            "_I dream…_

            _That you and I and love could be one_

            _'Cause Christmastime_

            _Should never be lonesome_." 

            Picard could hear them. Sheba and Ivan, awake now and sitting down in the kitchen, could hear them. Felix, his room across the hall from his sister's, could hear them. And perhaps for a moment, three sets of ears that weren't so far away from Vale could hear them, too.

            "_Remember when our love began_

            _You held my heart, I held your hand_

            _Ready to fly._

            _Please come home for Christmas…_

            _I don't want it this way."_

            There is nothing quite like the song of someone's heart. It threatens to envelop them in nothing but the music, the wholeness, the purity of each note and the way those notes bring out emotion so strong it threatens to burst right out into the song itself. The Adepts' hearts all sang the final words, even though only three voices and one lonely flute carried the tune.

            "_Please come home for Christmas_

            _And stay."_

            The sun had risen entirely now, reflecting off the soft white snow and making the town of Vale shine. Dora looked at the gates one last time and sighed heavily. They really wouldn't make it. Isaac and Garet wouldn't be home for Christmas this year. 

            With one final glance, Dora turned and began to walk away.

~*~

I'm…sad! That was sad! And I wrote the thing!! Sorry it's so late—expect the ending chapter by…tomorrow, or sometime next weekend. Hope you're all still in the mood…gah, this is _sad_…


	4. Home Again

Home for Christmas

A/N: If you knew the music that was playing in my head while I wrote this, you'd be tearing up too. I love this story…I maybe spent five hours max on the actual writing part, and there are less typos in it than there are in something I've read over three times in as many days…ah well. I hope you enjoy this last (and hopefully not too late) chapter!!

Chapter Four: Home Again

 _I'll be home for Christmas…_

 _If only in my dreams_.

            "Mom! Mom, please wait!" Dora froze at that voice, and turned around very slowly, as though she almost couldn't believe what she was hearing.

            Isaac, looking road-weary and quite cold, was standing under Vale's gate, with  Garet and some other man behind him. 

            "Mom!" Isaac called, running to her. Dora ran, as well, and halfway between both starting points they embraced.

            "Isaac!" Dora cried happily, running one hand through his golden-blond hair. "Isaac, my son. You are home for Christmas."

            "Well thanks a lot," Garet muttered, though he wasn't bitter in the least. He had almost made it through the gates when something sprang from the nearby foliage and tackled him to the ground. "Gah!" 

            "Garet, you big oaf!" Jenna said, giving him a sound whack on the side of the head. Garet saw stars for several seconds, and then kept seeing them as his daze wore off and Jenna kissed him. "Don't you ever make me wait for you like that again," she said softly, tears streaming down her face and melting little patches of snow. "You idiot," she added, pulling him off the ground. 

            "Isaac," whispered a voice, and Isaac opened his eyes and saw, over his mother's shoulder, the rest of the Adepts, Mia in front of them, hurrying over to greet the returning men. Isaac let go of Dora, and Mia flung her arms around him, squeezing tight enough to make breathing difficult and not minding in the least.

            "Mia," Isaac croaked out. "Nice to see you too." He hugged her equally as tight, though, and he and Garet were soon surrounded by the rest of the Adepts and Dora, all either cursing them, congratulating them, or both. 

            It was Sheba who noticed the man, standing quietly, leaning against the gates of Vale, under the small sprig of mistletoe. She pointed him out, and the others turned, though none but Isaac and Garet could possibly know him. 

            Except someone did. Even after so many years, Dora could have recognized Kyle anywhere, and she ran to him (as she seemed to have been doing a lot lately) and threw her arms around him. He was a bit slower in returning the embrace, but it was returned.

            "But this can't be," Dora said quietly, tears falling from her eyes, trailing down Kyle's back and into the snow. "You…you died, Jenna's parents told me so…they told me you could never come back."

            "I made a vow to come back for my family," Kyle said just as quietly, speaking into his wife's ear. "I couldn't break that. Not even the edge of death could stop me." Beaming, Kyle looked over at Isaac, and Dora's gaze followed her husband's.

            "Isaac, is this what you went out searching for? Did you know?" she asked animatedly.

            "Yes and no, respectively," Isaac said, as the group of them began to walk toward the giant Christmas tree, where the rest of Vale was fast gathering. Everyone was taking their presents from under the tree, and Garet's family let out cries of delight when they saw him—even his younger brother gave him a hug, though it was short and followed by an embarrassed grumble. 

            Isaac sighed, realizing that he hadn't had time to get anyone any gifts. Sheba and Ivan reassured him that his being there was plenty in the way of a present, but Isaac still felt that he'd cheated his friends, somehow. Still, he only found one present for him under the tree—knitted gloves, socks and a hat, from Garet's mother. She was always giving away presents like that.

            The day wore on, and it was entirely about festivities. As a special surprise, Sheba and Ivan presented Garet with another wrapped Mimic, as they'd done every year since the initial prank—they kept finding better and better ways to disguise it, though (this year's presentation resembled a wrapped miniature of a lighthouse), so Garet was always caught by surprise. 

            There was food, and music, and laughter and a lot of Christmas merriment. As morning turned to afternoon, the Adepts and many of the other children and young adults (and some older adults, too) of Vale used large sheets of ice to sled down the steep cliffs. 

            At one point, Garet slipped right off his ice sled and kept on going, rolling over and over into somewhat of a snowball (though it had a head and legs) before barreling into Picard, who was just standing and waiting for the chance to teleport back to the top.

            "Garet?" asked Picard in a calm voice.

            "Mmnph?" replied the snowball. 

            "That is what I thought. Do you enjoy being cold and wet?"

            "Rrrn gmmf pgrr rrm." 

            "Oh. Well when you find your way out of there, we are all going to Isaac's house for dinner. Feel free to join us." 

            When the rest of Garet's head came free of the snowball, he couldn't see any of the Adepts anywhere. With a groan—he'd been up for more than twenty-four hours by then—he sent heat out from his body, melting the snow and releasing him. As quickly as he could, he hurried to catch up with the others, who he now spotted on their way to Isaac's. 

            "Oh…how wonderful!" Dora exclaimed when she saw the small, living tree that now grew in one corner of her house. "What a marvelous present!" She and Kyle walked over to the little tree and took their time studying the beautiful ornaments and strings of berries that decorated the shoulder-high pine.

            Isaac, struck speechless by the thoughtfulness of all his friends, turned to them wordlessly to find that each one held a wrapped gift in their hands (even Garet) and all of them were wearing nearly identical mischievous, satisfied smiles. 

            "Merry Christmas Isaac!" they said, and he was buried in a seven-person bear hug, gifts and all. 

            Isaac laughed. He hadn't known at all if he was making the right choice when he'd left just under a week ago. But now, now that he was back with his friends and his entire family, he knew that what he had done had been right.

            **_Things always work out as they should, Isaac,_** a voice said in his mind alone. **_Most humans just never come to realize that what should be and what they'd like to be don't always coincide._**

            "Then I am fortunate indeed," Isaac whispered, though no one really heard him. 

            "Well, come on, Venus Adept," Ivan said mock-sternly. "Open your gifts!" 

~*~

            That night was, as it always had been, a party of grandest occasion. With Felix and Jenna's help, Picard had rigged up brilliant red-and-green lights that would randomly burst, with a very soft 'pop' sound, into stars of colored light. 

            "You Lemurians have to be fancy with everything, don't you," Ivan said quietly, giving Picard his best imitation of Mia's icy glare.

            "Fancy? This is normal," Picard replied impishly. "You should see it at midsummer." 

            Dinner was served, and for a good five minutes there was silence as everyone dug in. Christmas day dinner was the largest meal that Vale shared all year, and the long table was lined with every kind of main dish and dessert that a person could think of, including Imilian chili and Laliveran fried chicken.

            "Ah, I love Christmas," Garet said, leaning back in his chair and looking at his heaping second helping. "Food and gifts and the woman I love. What more could I possibly ask for?"

            "Jenna and Garet, sitting by the tree!" sang Cannon cheerfully.

            "Perhaps some silence in what passes for your mind," Jenna said, gesturing as though she would flick Cannon off the table. The Djinni jumped back, landing in Sheba's bowl of soup. Sheba pulled the Djinni out and set him on the table again, then went back to eating.

            "You're going to eat that after Cannon stood in it?" Ivan asked incredulously.

            "It was getting cold," Sheba replied with a shrug.

            A bit farther down the table, next to Mia and Felix and across from Dora and Kyle, Isaac watched his friends eat. It was more like watching Garet eat, really, he decided, while Jenna, Sheba and Ivan tried to protect their food from his fast-moving hands. _Fastest he's ever moved in his life, unless it was raining_, Isaac thought with a smile. 

            Then he looked at his parents. Kyle's hair was back to his normal length now, and he was wearing a clean shirt and pair of pants—he looked very much like the Kyle he'd been when Isaac was fourteen, albeit with some grey in his hair and a more world-weary look to his face. But his azure eyes—so like the color of Isaac's own—still held the sparkle that must have attracted Dora to him when they'd been younger.

            Dora looked up at Kyle with nothing but happiness in her heart. Finally, the heavy weight seemed gone from her shoulders, and her laughter was clear and ringing. And Kyle looked down at his wife and wrapped her in his arms, remembering how well she'd used to fit there and enjoying the way she fit still.

            Isaac smiled. Finally, all was as it should be. If it were any time but Christmas, the Elemental Spirits would have had to intervene, to create more chaos, because to all things there must be a balance. But it was indeed Christmas, and they sat back and watched, knowing a bit of what was to come. 

            It was very late by the time the festivities were over—most of the Adepts had been up all night and had decided to leave early. As they were walking towards their house, however, Kyle stopped Isaac and pulled him to the side.

            "It feels like ages ago, Isaac," he said, looking at his son proudly, "but I once told you that you had to fight for what you had, to fight for the things the Elemental Spirits gave you life for."

            "I remember," Isaac said.

            "One of those things is going to leave for Imil at the spring thaw unless you do something about it, son. I've seen you look at her—I know how much you love her, and how much she loves you in return. Don't let all that go to waste."

            Kyle handed Isaac a small box. Curiously, Isaac opened it and peeked inside. His eyes widened and he gasped. "But…Dad, I…"

            "You know I'm right, son," Kyle said. Isaac was shocked. It wasn't the bad kind of shocked, though; it was the good kind, where the warm fuzzy feeling spread from his heart right down to the ends of his fingers and toes. He smiled, put the box in his pocket, and nodded.

            "Thanks, Dad," Isaac said, turning to hurry after Mia. He had to catch her before she got back to the house, and it had to be away from anyone else. He knew exactly where he could take her, too.

            He caught up to her just before she got to the stairs that would take her up the cliff to her house. "Mia, please wait!" he called, and the Mercury Adept turned around, looking down at him with questioning eyes. "I…I have something to show you!"

            "Isaac, it's late. I haven't slept for nearly two days straight now. Please, can it wait?"

            "No. No, this can't wait another instant!" Isaac insisted, and he grabbed Mia's hand and began walking, as slowly as he could without bursting from the effort, to what remained of the peak of Mt. Aleph.

            "Isaac, what did you bring me here for?" Mia asked, actually shivering with the cold. Isaac looked at her and his heart nearly broke—it wasn't really fair, bringing her up here like this when it was nearly midnight and cold and snowing the tiniest bit.

            And yet, the still-bursting lights from down below, and the few stars showing through and the way the snow was blowing in little spirals in the breeze…it all seemed right. This was how it was meant to be.

            "Mia…I…well…actually, now that I'm here, I really don't know what to say. My mind never really took me past this point."

            "Isaac," Mia began, annoyance creeping into her voice. 

            "No, Mia. Please, listen. This…this is important. Really." Isaac took a deep breath, reached one hand into his pocket, and began writing a speech as he spoke it. "I know you're going to leave for Imil in a few months and I know you have your duties there even though the lighthouse is lit now and you'll be wanting to see Megan and Justin and the other Imilians again after being here for so long and all and I think you stayed this long because of me and that really makes me feel good inside and I wanted to tell you not to go because…" Isaac had to pause for another breath. "Because I love you. I really, truly do, with all my heart and more besides. And I…I wanted to ask you…"

            Isaac pulled the box from his pocket and took a step forward, going down on one knee. Grinning like a fool in love, he opened the box towards Mia, revealing a silver ring set with light blue gems in a circle, a dark sapphire sparkling in the center. "Mia, will you marry me?"

            Mia gasped. All thoughts of cold and tiredness and irritation at this man who had first left her and then come back for her when it was almost too late…this man who had so often put himself in danger rather than let harm come to her…who had risked his own life to save Weyard in a way that could have ultimately destroyed it…who had put up with Garet for seventeen _years_ before ever meeting her…who could light up each day with just a smile…all her annoyed thoughts fled in the face of the proposal being made by the man she loved. Elated, Mia laughed, unable to stop herself. 

            Isaac's face fell. Was she laughing at the idea that he might even suggest that he…no, she couldn't be. But there she was, laughing so hard tears were coming to her eyes. Isaac started to close the box and mumble an apology, but he found himself wrapped in a hug that was primarily many-layered white-and-blue robes, with a pair of arms mixed in somewhere.

            "Oh, Isaac…the look on your face…" Mia was still laughing, though much less so now. "Of course, Isaac. I wouldn't have it any other way. I accept!"

            Isaac began to laugh, too. And as midnight struck, the newly engaged Adepts stood together, smiling all the way home. Tomorrow, they decided, they'd tell everyone the news. 

~*~

Well, there you have it. The end (so very sorry it took me so long!) of the 2003 GS Christmas ficcy. Did you enjoy it? Didya didya didya? I hope so!! Now, push that little button down there if you _ever_ want to hear about the fiasco that was the wedding…oops…did I say that out loud??

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